Author: connormckechnie

“shifting one’s notion of center and periphery and coping with the complexity of multiple centers with multiple peripheries.”

Alsop, Christiane K. (2002)

By cross-referencing these centers and peripheries it creates a larger picture to analyse and comprehend in a previously one-dimensional viewing, now with multiples, I can observe the best way to better understand something previously foreign.

my cultural framework has evolved with the engagement of watching and researching Akira,Gojira, and Susunu! Denpa Shonen / Don’t Go For It Electric Boy!. I have witnessed how my understanding of a topic in the beginning compared to the end result has drastically changed my perception of how I view similar movies and tv. My knowledge of one topic often melds into the next one the more I research. This creates a complex network of the aforementioned peripheries I can use on my next engagement of a…

header: ‘The Truman Show’

Imagine a game, one where one contestant can win 1 million yen with no competition…and no clothes, or food, or water, until they won it. Let me introduce to you the closest humans have come to creating Black Mirror-style torture entertainment or to the Japanese, the “funniest comedy act they’d ever seen” (This American Life (2015). In 1998 to 2002, ‘Susunu! Denpa Shonen’ / ‘Don’t Go For It Electric Boy!’ shone through as a real and live entertainment that could double for a science experiment or hit American movie.

Susunu! Denpa Shonen / Don’t Go For It Electric Boy!

Toshio Tsuchiya, producer of the show prior to the infamous Nasubi, wanted to test the “journey” experienced in the previous show where he says the participants forget about the camera …and allowed their human sides to be revealed. This “essence” is what he wanted for ‘Susunu! Denpa…

To preface this post and my stance I had already seen the movie, Akira (1988) and loved it. But seeing the extreme violence for the second time was interesting because I got to witness others reactions (via Twitter) more closely knowing every shock and awe moment ahead of time. This allowed the auto-ethnographical practice a little easier as I could focus more on replying and reading tweets live.

Ellis describes Autoethnography as an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and systematically analyse personal experience in order to understand the cultural experience. (Ellis et, al. (2011). In Summary, recording what I saw and tell you here with detailed insights.

Practicing Autoethnography whilst watching Akira meant that I could read informative tweets which, gave insights into other viewers thoughts and opinions. These curated a live and connected/hive mind understanding at specifically memorable moments within the film. This is crucial…

My first introduction to (film franchise) Godzilla was the critically average 1998 Godzilla movie with Mathew Broderick …and I loved it. Let it be known it did not age well amongst the countless other variations more recently released.

Before I watched Gojira I was aware of black and white films but had never gone out of my way to watch one. Don’t get me wrong I love movies in general but I never had that passion to watch one that was black and white and in another language.

language is never an issue, nothing ever stopped me from enjoying something whether it was dubbed or needed subtitles. Having watched most of Bruce Lee’s (although short) discography meant having to listen to very delayed dubs (in English) and missing a great detail and timing of actors, so I opted for subtitles.